Kim Bekker engaged only one professional model when it came time to showcase her Isabel Marant collection of laid-back, sun-bleached clothing and boho accessories, including tassel belts, beaded necklaces and silver bracelets.
The cast included French designer Bachir Mbaye; Italian artist Tito Rapetti; French singer, composer and producer Hervé; and, Nuno Marques, a Portuguese artist. London-based photographer Brett Lloyd shot the men against a plain white background in order to highlight the color, texture and layers of jewelry.
“I wanted to show different male archetypes, and for guys to relate to them,” Bekker said. “I wanted to keep it grungy, and cool and show how a man can build a wardrobe over the years, and make it personal, picking up pieces from here and there after having traveled all around the world.”
The collection was the very opposite of buttoned-up, with loose layers, patterns and embellishments galore. Bekker dipped into the Isabel Marant archive, and mixed vintage belts with new ones, and let models wear their own jewelry — and the brand’s pieces, too.
Bekker put most of her models in straight-leg jeans and then went about layering her looks. She paired a slouchy, tailored olive jacket with a yellow tassel belt; long-sleeve T-shirts with breezy check shirts; and jazzed up stripes and solid T-shirts with rope-like belts, or ones with chunky beads.
Knits were graphic and colorful. One came with geometric shapes done in a palette of beachy sunset colors — pink, orange, brown and cobalt — while another knit had a sun-faded abstract Navajo pattern.
Some of the looks were finished off with leather jackets and suede boots, and while that may sound unbearably hot right now, the weather will eventually turn and men will soon be craving those cool Marant colors, and layers.
